New AG Should Settle with Stankoski and Stout

When I read in Friday’s Dispatch that Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout were asking for $400,000 each to settle their sexual harrasment cases against the Attorney General’s office I was kind of shocked.

I’m not saying they don’t deserve it. But when you add in the attorney’s fees the total comes close to a million dollars the state is going to have to pay. That’s some serious cash.

Fortunately for them, the facts seem to support their claims and everyone in the State of Ohio has heard those facts many, many times.

We all know that Marc Dann hired Anthony Gutierrez – his long-time, low-life, unqualified friend – and let him run wild- crashing state cars and chasing young, female employees in the AG’s office.

And there is certainly no doubt that Dann’s actions led to a hostile work environment for these women.

All of this has been revealed in painful detail over the past few months in the papers and on the blogs.

Rex Elliott, Cindy and Vanessa’s lawyer, is well aware of the high visibility of this case and he knows no one wants to hear all of this brought up again during a trial.

So, of course, he’s pushing for the state to settle before all of investigations are completed.

And who can blame him.

I do think Rex is probably, in typical lawyer fashion, being a bit dramatic when he calls their ordeal “horrific” – Guitierrez is certainly gross and offensive but I’m not sure he’s capable of causing serious terror to anyone unless maybe he’s driving them around drunk in a state-owned vehicle.

But Mr. Elliott is dead on when he warns that a lawsuit would cause “widespread media attention … during this fall’s important elections” something no one wants to see – except the Republican AG candidate (if they can ever find one).

My suggestion to Attorney General Rogers: make them a reasonable offer and settle this thing ASAP.

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1) Settlements aren’t governed by caps, per se, but people generally don’t settle for things they wouldn’t have to pay at trial.
2)It’s unclear what damages are covered by the $400k request. My only guess is that most of their damages are non-economic (medical, counseling, lost wages, lost benefits, lost promotions, etc.)